Window shades and coverings are found in many applications and used to regulate the amount of light entering a room, and to provide aesthetic appeal to a decor. Such window shades and coverings take many forms, including roller shades, Roman shades, Venetian blinds, and cellular shades. Conventional cellular or pleated shades utilize cord locks or a transmission mechanism to raise, lower and position the window covering in a desired position. With window coverings utilizing a cord lock, cords run up through the folded fabric, across the inside of a head rail and exit through a locking mechanism. Other cellular shades include a transmission mechanism and a continuous loop cord that is pulled by a user to raise and lower the window shade. Roman shades and Venetian blinds also tend to include raising cords that are secured to a lower bar or bottom rail.
There are some disadvantages to these designs. Cords present the potential hazard of a child getting caught in or strangled by the exposed control cord. Cords also tend to distract from the aesthetics of a window covering in that they extend along the face of the window covering and, when the window shade is opened, must either be wrapped on a hook or just left on the floor. With window coverings that utilize cord locks, the cords also experience substantial wear due to friction against surfaces as a result of raising and lowering of the window covering.
Other window coverings include common roller shades, which operate in the absence of a cord. These roller shades include a wound torsion-spring retraction mechanism in combination with a clutch or locking mechanism mounted with a roller onto which the shade is rolled and collected. In operation, a roller shade is pulled down by a user to a desired location, where it is locked in place by the clutch or locking mechanism. To unlock and release the shade so that it may be raised, the user typically pulls on a bottom rail of the shade, extending the shade sufficiently to disengage the internal clutch or locking mechanism within. When the clutch or locking mechanism is disengaged and the user releases the shade, the shade is retracted using the torsion-spring driven retraction mechanism. Known roller shades, however, are only operable with flat shade material which rolls up neatly into a confined location.
The mechanism utilized in such roller shades is not compatible with other window coverings, such as cellular shades, Venetian blinds, and Roman shades. As roller shades are raised, the amount of shade being lifted decreases such that a constant force torsional spring member is capable of applying the necessary winding or upward force throughout the opening range. By contrast, a similar lifting mechanism is typically unsuitable in cellular shades, Venetian blinds, and Roman shades. In these types of window coverings the material of the shade element is typically gathered by raising a bottom member, such as a bottom rail, and increasing amounts of weight are gathered on the bottom member as the window covering is raised. The reason for this is that the shade material or shade element increasingly stacks on the bottom rail as the bottom rail rises, which increases the load on the lifting mechanism.
In order to address this increasing weight, very strong torsional springs have been used to accommodate the maximum weight of the shade. One drawback to this approach, however, is that the rate at which the window covering is retracted may be too fast and uncontrolled. One attempt to address this problem is found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,666,252, issued to Welfonder. This patent teaches the use of a fluid brake to control the rate at which the raising cords are retracted throughout the raising process. Another approach that has been used is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,036, issued to Todd, which employs a mechanical friction member to continuously slow the rate of retraction. One problem with these approaches has been that the spring utilized exerts a force that makes it difficult for a user to overcome when attempting to lower the shade. Excessive pulling force by the user often results in damage to the window covering.
Alternatively, variable force springs have been used. Such variable force springs are substantially more complicated in use and manufacture.
Therefore, there is a need for a window covering raising mechanism for window coverings such as Venetian blinds, cellular shades and Roman shades that is self-raising and overcomes the foregoing problems.